Woods picked up his 80th career PGA Tour victory but first since 2013 on Sunday, shooting a one-over 71 to finish at 11 under and win the Tour Championship by two shots over Billy Horschel.

With the victory, Woods will finish second in the FedEx Cup standings behind world No. 1 Justin Rose, who birdied 18 to finish in a tie for fourth and win the $10 million Cup grand prize. Woods will receive $3 million for second place in the season-long points race.

The win puts an exclamation point on what has been a remarkable comeback from Woods, who had spinal fusion surgery last April and was arrested for DUI with five drugs in his system one month later. Roughly this time last year, Woods said at the Presidents Cup that he wasn’t sure if he’d ever compete on Tour again. Now he has picked up a win in the final event of the season and will move into the top 15 in the world rankings on Monday.

“I had a hard time not crying on the last hole,” Woods said after the round.

https://twitter.com/PGATOUR/status/1043983162336935936

“I just can’t believe I pulled this off,” he said while fighting back tears at the trophy ceremony. “It’s been tough. Not so easy the last couple years. I’ve worked my way back, and I couldn’t have done it without the help of everyone around me.”

Woods started the day with a three-shot lead over Rose and Rory McIlroy, the latter of whom fell out of contention while playing alongside Woods on Sunday. He birdied the first hole and pushed his lead to five on the front nine by finding fairways and greens and shooting a one-under 34 on the front nine.

After a birdie on 13, Woods had a five-shot lead with just five to play, but he would bogey 15 and 16, and his advantage shrunk to two. Woods got up-and-down for par on 17 to preserve the two-shot lead coming to the par-5 18th, and the win was virtually clinched when he smashed a drive right down the center at the finishing hole.

As he walked up the green after knocking his second into a greenside bunker, scores of fans followed right behind him in an iconic spectacle.

Woods then blasted out to six feet and two-putted to seal his first win in 1,876 days. He paused for a moment after sinking the final putt before raising his arms in triumph.

Below is a hole-by-hole recap of the round, including highlights and analysis.

HOLE 18, PAR 5 – PAR, +1 FOR DAY, -11 FOR TOURNAMENT

Woods is a winner again! He split the fairway with his drive and let out a big smile after that. He would knock his second into a greenside bunker, blasted out to six feet and two-putted for the win.

HOLE 17, PAR 4 – PAR, +1 FOR DAY, -11 FOR TOURNAMENT

Absolutely massive par save. Tiger missed left with a 3-wood again and hacked a wedge over the green. He was fortunate to find some trampled-down rough and played a nice chip to about four feet. Dead-center with the par effort and he’ll head to 18 needing a bogey or better for the win.

HOLE 16, PAR 4 – BOGEY, +1 FOR DAY, -11 FOR TOURNAMENT

Well, this is getting more interesting than Woods would like. He tugged a 3-wood into thick rough and opted to hack it out with a wedge and try to make par the hard way. His third was on line but landed long and was fortunate to spin back out of the thick stuff onto the fringe. His par effort wouldn’t go and it’s his second straight bogey, and now the lead is down to two with two to play.

HOLE 15, PAR 3 – BOGEY, E FOR DAY, -12 FOR TOURNAMENT

Really lucky not to find the water, as he missed short and right of the par 3. That could have been wet for the same price. He drew a good lie in the rough, however, and was able to play a bump-and-run to about nine feet. Couldn’t get the par putt to fall and the lead is down to three, as Billy Horschel has posted nine under.

HOLE 14, PAR 4 – PAR, -1 FOR DAY, -13 FOR TOURNAMENT

The 14th is the longest par 4 on the course at roughly 530 yards, so it’s absolutely imperative to hit the fairway if you’re going to make par. Woods did exactly that, peeling a cut that found the right side of the short grass. From there he hit a laser long iron to about 15 feet before the putt went begging by on the left side. Stress-free pars will suffice right now.

HOLE 13, PAR 4 – BIRDIE, -1 FOR DAY, -13 FOR TOURNAMENT

A textbook birdie: driver down the center, wedge to 13 feet and a putt right in the middle of the cup. The lead is now back up to five—Billy Horschel is in second at eight under—and this tournament is very much his to lose.

HOLE 12, PAR 4 – PAR, E FOR DAY, -12 FOR TOURNAMENT

Tiger found the fairway with a cut 3-wood and hit a nice wedge to about eight feet, but the birdie effort wasn’t his best. It was left to right and he didn’t give it enough pace, missing on the low side.

It’s a bit of a missed opportunity, but six more pars will mean win No. 80.

HOLE 11, PAR 3 – PAR, E FOR DAY, -12 FOR TOURNAMENT

Just what he needed after the first bogey of the day. A really solid mid-iron into the middle of the par 3 green, which left a speedy putt down the hill. The birdie putt was left the whole way and rolled out to about three feet, but he brushed that in without incident. The lead is back to five after a Rose bogey.

HOLE 10, PAR 4 – BOGEY, E FOR DAY, -12 FOR TOURNAMENT

First bogey of the day comes after a wayward right drive forced Tiger to punch out with his second. The punch out rolled out a bit too far into the first cut and he didn’t judge the distance well on his third from 77 yards, hitting it 25 feet past the hole. Two putts from there and it’s his first dropped shot, and the lead is trimmed to four.

HOLE 9, PAR 3 – PAR, -1 FOR DAY, -13 FOR TOURNAMENT

Tiger hit a long-iron to the middle of the green on this 235-yard par 3. He liked that one and picked up the tee early. A nice effort from 35 feet rolls out to tap-in range, and that’s now eight straight pars after the opening birdie. His lead, which was three at the beginning of the day, is now 5. Nine more holes to go…

HOLE 8, PAR 4 – PAR, -1 FOR DAY, -13 FOR TOURNAMENT

There’s water all along the left side of 8, so it’s no surprise that Tiger bailed out right into a fairway bunker. He was able to get his second onto the front portion of the green and two putted from abouot 50 feet to keep the round bogey-free. Onward…

HOLE 7, PAR 4 – PAR, -1 FOR DAY, -13 FOR TOURNAMENT

Tiger continues to find fairways—he’s hit five of the first six—and hit an approach right at the flag, but it rolled out to about 20 feet past the hole. Another birdie effort that looked on line but finished about a foot short for another stress-free par.

Through seven holes, he’s been solid as can be: hitting fairways and greens and avoiding bogeys. Perfect gameplan when you have a big lead like this. It’s almost like he’s done this before…

HOLE 6, PAR 5 – PAR, -1 FOR DAY, -13 FOR TOURNAMENT

Bit of a missed opportunity, especially after Tiger ripped one down the middle and had just 215 into the par 5. He pulled his second shot significantly, as he was aiming toward the center of the green but hit a smother hook long and a bit left of the flag. It nestled way down in rough and he basically chunked his third, leaving it on the fringe. He left his long birdie effort short and did well to hole a four-footer for par.

Pars aren’t going to hurt Tiger too much right now—his lead is still five—but he’d be the first to tell you that he’d expect himself to make birdie from where he was off the tee.

HOLE 5, PAR 4 – PAR, -1 FOR DAY, -13 FOR TOURNAMENT

Tiger spoke after yesterday’s round about how the rest of the field would have to come chase him, and that he could make it very difficult for them by keeping a clean card. He’s doing exactly that, finding yet another fairway and giving himself a good luck at birdie after hitting wedge to about 15 feet. The putt had a chance but missed just barely to the left, prompting a reaction of surprise. Another par with a par 5 coming up next.

HOLE 4, PAR 4 – PAR, -1 FOR DAY, -13 FOR TOURNAMENT

Important par save after he missed the fairway to the right, drawing a gnarly lie in the Bermuda rough. He tried to muscle an iron from 170ish to the green but it came out dead, finding a bunker short and right of the green. It was about a 30-yard bunker shot and he splashed out to about 10 feet, then made his par effort after McIlroy missed a par putt of similar length. Really good save.

His lead remains four over Justin Rose, but he now holds a five-shot advantage over McIlroy.

HOLE 3, PAR 4 – PAR, -1 FOR DAY, -13 FOR TOURNAMENT

Tiger went with iron off the tee to play for position and executed it perfectly, finding the center of the short grass. From about 125 he went with sand wedge, flying it right over a front pin to about 20 feet. The pin was tucked right over a bunker, and both Woods and McIlroy played conservatively past the pin. It left a huge left-to-right breaker for birdie—like, 10 feet of break—and it ran out of steam short of the hole. No issues with the par putt and it’s a one-under start after three holes.

HOLE 2, PAR 3 – PAR, -1 FOR DAY, -13 FOR TOURNAMENT

Iron to the center of the green on this 200-yard par 4, leaving about 40 feet for birdie. The putt was on line but finished a few rolls short, leaving a stress-free tap-in for par.

HOLE 1, PAR 4 – BIRDIE, -1 FOR DAY, -13 FOR TOURNAMENT

Ideal start. Tiger went with driver off the tee and picked up the tee really quickly as it was right down the center. His approach was right at the flag and finished just 10 feet from the hole. He walked in the birdie effort. Couple the birdie with McIlroy’s par and Tiger’s lead is now four.

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FedExCup update: The final 30 in Atlanta

The PGA TOUR took a week off before its season finale, but the Monday Finish isn’t taking a break. Instead of looking back at last week, we will look ahead to the TOUR Championship and the race for the FedExCup. Here are some numbers you need to know before the action gets underway Thursday at East Lake.

1. THE YOUNG AND VICTORIOUS

FedExCup leader Bryson DeChambeau celebrated his 25th birthday on Sunday. That could be a good omen. The average age of the past four FedExCup champions? Twenty-five years old.

That’s a drastic difference from the first seven FedExCups, when the average champion was 35.1 years old.

DeChambeau leads the FedExCup after winning the first two events of the Playoffs. He and Rory McIlroy are the only players to win multiple Playoffs events before the age of 25. Jordan Spieth, Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas are the only other players to win a Playoffs event before the age of 25.

DeChambeau’s wins were the ninth and 10th victories this season by a player 25 or younger. That’s tied for the second-most in TOUR history (since the PGA TOUR started keeping age records in 1970).

Most wins by 25 and under
2016-17: 182017-18: 102000: 10

In 2000, Tiger Woods accounted for nine of the 10 wins by a player aged 25 or under.

2. DRIVE FOR DOUGH

Here’s a quick look at how the TOUR Championship field ranks in the four Strokes Gained statistics. Though the saying “Drive for show and putt for dough” has been around for decades, the modern thinking on TOUR is that ball-striking is the true key to consistent success. It’s obviously important to putt well, and each player gets it in the hole in a different fashion, but the game’s top ranks are dominated by its best ball-strikers.

Nearly half of the TOUR Championship field is in the top 20 of Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee. Eight of the top nine players in that statistic – Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, Gary Woodland, Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Francesco Molinari, Patrick Cantlay and Rory McIlroy – qualified for East Lake.

3. DJ’s FEDEXCUP QUEST

Dustin Johnson is fourth in this year’s FedExCup standings. He has already finished in the top five of the FedExCup four times, tied with Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk for most top-five finishes in FedExCup history.

Woods (2007, ’09) and Furyk (2010) each have a FedExCup victory included among their handful of high finishes. Johnson is seeking his first.

This is the 10th consecutive season that Johnson has qualified for East Lake, the longest streak on TOUR. He finished a career-best second in the 2016 FedExCup. He shared the 54-hole lead at that year’s TOUR Championship but shot 73 in the final round. Rory McIlroy beat Ryan Moore in a playoff to win the TOUR Championship and FedExCup (Johnson would have claimed the Cup if Moore had won the playoff).

Johnson finished fourth in last year’s FedExCup.

4. WISE FOR HIS AGE

Aaron Wise is the only rookie to qualify for East Lake, a feat that should make him a lock to win the Rookie of the Year award. Just two years ago, Wise was winning the NCAA Championship as a sophomore at Oregon.

Wise, 22, is in a select group to make the TOUR Championship at such an early age. Only Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth, Sergio Garcia and Si Woo Kim have made the TOUR Championship at an earlier age.

Wise arrives at East Lake ranked 21st in the FedExCup standings.

He turned pro immediately after winning the national championship, then graduated from the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada that same year. He needed just one season on the Web.com Tour to graduate to the PGA TOUR.

Wise has won in each of his first three pro seasons, claiming a title on each of the three tours he has played in his brief career.

5. XANDER RETURNS

Xander Schauffele waited until the 11th hour to earn the opportunity to defend his TOUR Championship title. Schauffle jumped from 41st to 18th in the FedExCup with his third-place finish at the BMW Championship.

The TOUR Championship may be the toughest title to defend in golf. There are no invitations for past champions. Every player, even the previous year’s champion, must finish in the top 30 of the FedExCup to make it to East Lake.

Schauffele is just the fourth player in the FedExCup era to earn an opportunity to defend his TOUR Championship title. Phil Mickelson (won in 2009), Brandt Snedeker (2012) and Jordan Spieth (2015) are the others.

Schauffele hasn’t won this season after his two-win rookie campaign, but he has had several impressive finishes in some of golf’s biggest events. In addition to his third-place finish at Aronimink, he was runner-up at both THE PLAYERS Championship and Open Championship and sixth at the U.S. Open.

The pressure of increased expectations has had an impact on Schauffele. He finished third in last season’s FedExCup, the highest finish ever by a rookie. He had been a career-long underdog, an overlooked member of the sterling Class of 2011 who starred at a smaller school (San Diego State). Now he’s one of the game’s top prospects.

“I felt like I was supposed to come out here (this year) and win and make it look easy. It’s been quite the contrast,” Schauffele, 24, said at the BMW. “We’re dealing with that and just trying to get better.”

NORTON, MA – SEPTEMBER 03: Bryson DeChambeau of the United States reacts on the 15th green during the final round of the Dell Technologies Championship at TPC Boston on September 3, 2018 in Norton, Massachusetts.

Bryson goes back-to-back

This time in 2016, Bryson DeChambeau didn’t have his tour card. He’s now weeks away from cashing golf’s biggest paycheck.

Fresh off a resounding win at Ridgewood, the 24-year-old ran the performance back at TPC Boston, his final-round 67 good enough for a two-shot victory over Justin Rose to capture the Dell Technologies Championship.

“Consistency has been a big thing for me,” said DeChambeau, who will be No. 1 spot in the FedEx Cup standings heading into East Lake no matter what happens at the BMW Championship. “I’ve been trying to get that week in and week out, and I was able to kind of figure something out last week on the putting green and that’s kind of progressed me to move forward in the right way.”

DeChambeau began the weekend seven shots back of the leaders, but made his charge on Sunday, an eight-under 63 earning him a spot in the final pairing with Abraham Ancer. Bryson put an early end to the afternoon with five birdies on the front nine, his steady ball-striking (sixth in sg/tee-to-green) and short game (sixth in putting) keep contenders at bay.

DeChambeau is only the second player to win the first two legs of the FedEx Cup (Vijay Singh accomplished the feat in 2008). The win also comes near the two-year anniversary of DeChambeau, in the Web.com Finals after struggling in his first summer on tour, grabbing the DAP Championship to earn promotion to the bigs. Moving to No. 7 in the world—a ranking better than Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Jason Day and Patrick Reed—and a Ryder Cup bid looming, don’t think you’re going to see DeChambeau back in the minors anytime soon.

Speaking of Ryder Cup…

Finau making life easy on Furyk

The most important responsibility of a Ryder Cup captain is choosing his at-large selections. And also the most scrutinized. Case in point: Darren Clarke picking Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer due to their experience rather than their play in 2016. A move that backfired, with the two going 1-6 in seven matches at Hazeltine.

Which brings us to Jim Furyk, manning the helm of the American squad this fall. Furyk technically has four picks at his disposal, although—thanks to strong seasons, their roles in the team’s brain trust, and frankly, their importance in promotion and marketing—many believe Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are already on the team. That leaves two spots, one of which DeChambeau has essentially locked up. And if DeChambeau’s work the past two weeks have earned him the nod, the same could be said about Tony Finau.

A week after finishing runner-up to DeChambeau at the Northern Trust, Finau turned in another fine display, finishing T-4 at TPC Boston. Following Sunday’s round, Finau was not shy about this Paris ambitions.

“The more solid I play each week, I’m making it tough to not pick me, if I’m being honest,” Finau said. “I’m not the one that gets to pick, I’m the one that just gets to play. But I’ve played some nice golf these last couple weeks, and if that’s what it comes down to when (Furyk) makes his decision to pick a team for the Ryder Cup, and that’s what he’s waiting for for those picks, then I think I’m going to be a hard guy to look past.”

Finau makes a compelling argument. Finau is crazy long (third in distance), racks up the red numbers (sixth in eagles, 11th in birdies), is tough as nails (remember that 68 at Augusta National after dislocating his ankle?), and only Dustin Johnson has more top-10 finishes this year. That three of those came at majors doesn’t hurt his cause.

The only real knock on Finau is his lack of wins—his only career victory came at the 2016 Puerto Rico Open—but it’s one he’s not giving much thought.

“I’m trying to win every time I play,” Finau said. “I haven’t been able to do it, but I just feel the more I give myself opportunities, it’s going to happen. And my game feels as good as ever.”

Furyk will announce three of his picks on Tuesday, with the final selection coming after the BMW Championship. Theoretically, Furyk could announce Finau next week. But the 28-year-old doesn’t need another tournament to make his case.

Short-game slump continues for Tiger

At one point, he was three shots off the lead on Monday. That was the good news for Tiger Woods. The bad is the 14-time major winner remains flummoxed on the greens.

Woods went to his third flat stick of the year in Boston, desperately seeking answers for a short game that ranked last in New Jersey. Though his putting showed signs of life earlier in the week, it failed him again as the tournament progressed, posting negative strokes gained totals on Sunday and Monday and needing 33 strokes on the greens in the final round. Trouble that transformed a possible top-five standing into a T-24 finish.

To be fair, it wasn’t just the putter that was off on Monday, as Woods’ usually-stout second-shot game failed to fire on all cylinders. His driving didn’t do him any favors, either.

Still, if Tiger hopes to make it to the Tour Championship—and perhaps more importantly, be formidable in France—he needs to right the ship with the short game, and in a hurry. That this week’s BMW Championship is at Aronimink Golf Club, one of the harder venues in the country, won’t help.

“This” being Joe Durant at the 17th hole of the PGA Tour Champions’ Shaw Charity Classic. Durant was tied with Scott McCarron, looking at a birdie attempt to take the lead into the final hole. Alas, Durant’s attempt failed to find the cup.

Ahead, McCarron birdied the final hole, and though Durant also made bird, the gimme ultimately cost him a shot at a playoff.

Personally, I blame the yellow ball.

Mahan regains tour card

Hunter Mahan has lost his way inside the ropes the last few seasons. The former World No. 4 fell to a low as 859th after last year’s U.S. Open and, following a failed attempt at the Web.com Tour Finals, lost his tour card for the first time in his career. He’ll start his revival bid in earnest next season, with full exemption in tow.

Mahan, who made appearances on the tour this year thanks to past champion status, accumulated enough non-member points to earn a return to this year’s Web Finals. The six-time tour winner made an auspicious showing at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship, the circuit’s first postseason event, but it was his performance at the DAP Championship that is sending him back to the big leagues. Mahan bounced back from a so-so 71 start to turn in a 66, 65 and 67, rounds good enough to vault him to a runner-up finish at Canterbury Golf Club. The T-2 bestowed $88,000, a sum that guarantees Mahan will receive one of the 25 cards dispersed through the tour’s Finals.

Mahan, who’s made seven Ryder and Presidents Cups appearances for the United States and $30 million in his career, has just one top-10 finish on the PGA Tour since 2015. Mahan asserted that fighting his swing back happened to coincide with starting a family, and admitted he was unable to adjust according on the course.

“We have a lot going on,” Mahan said. “Mentally, you’d like to deal with one thing at a time. I think it overwhelmed me and I lost track of my swing a little bit. It feels like an avalanche, but it’s just a snow flurry.

“I’m a father and a husband, and I have to be there first. It’s hard to be there mentally in both places.”

This past year, Mahan’s family also dealt with the loss of his sister-in-law Katie Enloe, wife to SMU coach Jason Enloe, to leukemia.

However, Mahan had showed signs of life prior to the Web Finals, nearly winning the alternate event Barbasol Championship in July. With his tour card in hand, Mahan likely won’t return to the world’s top five. But he’s only 36 years old, and proved this week he still has plenty of gas left in the tank.

Padraig Harrington, 46 years young, came up just shy of his 16th career European Tour victory this past weekend, falling to Andrea Pavan by two strokes at the Czech Masters. In addition to his strong finish, Harrington cemented his legacy as a tinkerer. An elite tinkerer.

Harrington displayed a very interesting (feel free to supply your own adjective) takeaway at the event, in which he pauses just a moment after pulling his club away from the ball. It’s a unique begin to the swing, that’s for sure, but it’s even more than just a pause. Harrington is also lifting his left foot completely off the ground for just an instant.

The thesis behind the move is to this point unclear, but what is clear is that Harrington is working through some type of swing thought on his takeaway. On the range, at least, he’s pushing one golf ball backward, away from the point of contact, pausing, then continuing with the rest of his swing. It’s mesmerizing. Based on this week’s results, it’s successful, too.

ST. LOUIS — You’re tempted to say he’s the hardest-working man in show business, except Tiger Woods isn’t in show business. That’s the root of his greatness and his greatest challenge. As a public being, he’d like to be judged, first and foremost, as he judges himself, as an athlete. But the world won’t stand for that. The modern elite athlete must also be an entertainer, a showman, a celebrity, a philanthropist. A role model. It’s too much.

On Sunday, we saw the version of the man that truly captures and inspires: Tiger Woods, athlete. “He shot 64 when he looked like he was shooting 74,” said his playing partner, Gary Woodland. “Only a great athlete can do that. He missed that five-footer for birdie on 1, got mad, stiffed it on 2 and made that.”

Woodland’s caddie, Brennan Little, was caddying for Mike Weir on Sunday at Medinah in 1999 when Weir was paired with Woods and Woods won his first PGA Championship. “That was intense,” Little said Sunday night. “This was more intense.”

That was then, Tiger Woods at the start of his professional career. This is now, Tiger Woods deep in the back nine of it. Then there would be more chances forever, until forever disappears.

These were his four scores: 70, 66, 66, 64. Only one player shot better, Brooks Koepka, who won by two over Woods and three over Adam Scott. Koepka is 28 and his body never aches. “If you’re working out every day, you’re not going to be sore,” he said Saturday night, 24 hours before the coronation ceremony as the (unofficial) best player in the world, the (unofficial) player of the year, the (unofficial) future first ballot Hall of Famer. Tiger Woods is 42 and his body always aches. He’s probably taking an ice bath right now. The things we do, to pursue the things we want. Woods wants a 15th major, his kids at the awards ceremony, a new last chapter. He may not realize—he may be too close to the action to know—that he is already at work on an exceptional third act. Act I of his playing career was called Talent + Work. Act II was called Obsession + Work. Act III, a work in progress, is called Trying. Who cannot relate to trying? It’s what we tell our kids and our better selves, right?

It seems fitting, that this piece of sporting near-magic happened where it did, in this great and proud city, or in its leafy, moist suburbs, anyhow. You know St. Louis: the Cardinals, the breweries, the Blues, the dwindling factories trying to hold on, the late, great Sporting News (print edition), union workers clinging to their cards, the reinvention as a tech-and-med town. You never saw bigger crowds following Woods, anywhere. St. Louis fans have a measure of patience you won’t see in New York or Chicago and Los Angeles. That’s why they love baseball so much. That’s why they were the sixth man in this fourth major. “It felt a little bit like a football atmosphere out there,” Woods’s caddie, Joe LaCava, said Sunday night. He’s a Giants fan himself. Woods’s team is the Raiders.

Eric McHugh, a St. Louis TV cameraman, worked the tournament on Sunday wearing a black Mizzou basketball hat. He’s covered everything there is to cover in St. Louis, and way beyond St. Louis. “I’ve covered games in the Coliseum, with 85,000 people there, hollering,” he said, referring to the Los Angeles football temple. “This was more than that.” Not in terms of numbers. No golf course, and Bellerive especially, can handle a crowd that size. If it was half of that, it would be huge. (The PGA of America did not release attendance figures.) McHugh was speaking as Woodland was, of intensity. “The crowd noise for Tiger was like a storm brewing. You’d be standing on the side of the fairway and he’d be walking up it and it was like a sound wave, building up, getting louder and louder.” There has never been another golfer who has created an atmosphere like that, who shakes life into the people who watch him, on a screen and especially in person. That’s because there’s never been a golfer with a life story anything like Tiger Woods’s life story. It’s easier to root for him now than ever before, because we can all see what he is: a man in recovery.

Woods did at Bellerive what he did last month at Carnoustie. Both times, he was nearly excellent. Both times he stirred memories of his former greatness. Both times, he showed his desire, intensity and anger, and his sense of humor, too. He showed—he proved—the very thing he has said for some years now: “Father Time is undefeated.” In the intense heat and humidity of the Show Me state in August, Woods needed two shirts a day. Greatness sweats. If you’ve ever seen Michael Jordan in action, or Bill Murray or American Pharoah, you know that. Woods played his second shot on 17 on Sunday, out of the muddy weeds beside a swollen creek, with beads of sweat on his cheeks, nose and neck. His towel should get a percentage.

Woods’s prime was far longer than you might realize. It began in 1991, when he won his first (of six) USGA amateur titles at age 15, and concluded in 2008, when he won his 14th professional major, at age 32. And here he was, 10 years later, on a long, soft course. Once, he owned the courses like this one, as he owned the American summer. Bring him to Valhalla, to Medinah, to Southern Hills—he knew what to do. He did what Brooks Koepka did here. Woods stomped on those courses, from early Thursday to late Sunday and with every club in his bag, most especially the driver (as needed) and the putter. Plus, the breaks went his way. The teetering putts fell. He played under a magic spell, in a cocoon of his own making. Now there are holes in it. They might be only pinholes, but air escapes. The 25-foot birdie putt on 11 sat practically on the paint. Back in the day, that ball fell. As it did at the 2005 Masters, on 16. As it did at the 2008 U.S. Open, on the 72nd hole. As it always did. Woods used to say, “You gotta get a little lucky.” It sounded arrogant because he was lucky and he was better than everybody. But he was also being accurate. Winners seem to always be a little lucky.

Woods will be on the Ryder Cup team, certainly as an assistant captain, almost certainly as one of Jim Furyk’s four captains picks. You can imagine him winning another PGA Tour event. Bellerive played much more like an ordinary Tour course, but with a far better field. It’s less easy to imagine him winning another major, not with the likes of Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson and Francesco Molinari and Justin Thomas flying around this world.

“The energy was incredible,” Woods said Sunday night. He was speaking of the fans’ energy. He could have been speaking of his own.